𓈊 A Poppy By Any Other Name

Act XL

Happy New Year, it's 2023!!! We made it :DDD

I'm genuinely AMAZED by all of the popularity this book has gotten in the past 10 months. I never expected to exceed a thousand views, much less 40 thousand. And the couple pieces of fanart I've received are amazing, (shout out to misterglitch and NightlyLightbulb). Not to mention how I gained almost 250 followers, just this year. I'm so glad to be able to share my writing with so many people, and even happier that you all enjoy it so much. Making people happy is my favourite hobby :D /gen/pos

Anyway, enough with the sappy stuff. Major warning for a self-delete attempt (don't worry, everyone is fine in the end, I promise /srs), blood, and panic attacks. Please be safe, loves <3 /gen

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"Jeez, Etho, you only have cable?" Joel jokingly complained with a teasing smile, earning a half-hearted glare from the other boy. "Half of these are news channels, too."

Etho reached over from the other side of the sofa to swat at Joel, who laughed in response. "Oh, hush," Etho said, now smiling himself. "I have Netflix on my laptop if you want to watch something on there."

Joel stuck his tongue out. "I bet your parents have the settings set to PG-13 and below."

Etho scoffed and tossed a throw pillow at the brunette. "As if."

"Silly little emo kid can't watch his emo movies 'cause he's a little baby-" Joel squealed when Etho tackled him against the arm of the sofa, tickling his sides. "Etho!!"

Etho smirked as his friend squirmed, laughing and making squealing sounds. "Maybe this'll make you think twice about-" He stopped when there was a knock at the door. "Huh?" He glanced out the window. "Uh, Joel?"
(Sorry to everyone who was confused about this paragraph before... I'm genuinely so bad at English, I'm so sorry sjsbajsb)

Joel was taking loud, deep breaths to calm down from laughing so hard. "Yeah?"

"Are you expecting anyone?"

"No?" Joel sat upright after shooing the taller boy off of him. "Who is it?"

Etho squinted. "Some kid with messy hair," he answered. "Blonde-ish, short."

Joel got up off the sofa. "I think it's Grian." He walked across the living room to the front door, opening it. "Hey, Gri-" His breath caught in his throat when the crying boy looked up at him. "Kiddo-"

Grian shoved a box at him that had just noticed. "You have to fix it," the younger murmured, his voice sounding more childlike than usual. "Please."

Joel took the box. Whatever was inside moved around. "What is it?" he asked, and he stepped aside so Grian could enter the house. Though, Grian didn't move from his spot, watching as Joel opened the box. It was full of broken plastic, bent metal, shattered glass, and frayed wires. "Oh."

"You have to fix it," Grian repeated. He looked on the verge of tears again.

"Bud..." Joel looked between Grian and the contents of the container in his hands. "I can't- Grian-"

Grian had grabbed onto Joel's sweater. "Please, you have to!" he wailed.

Etho cautiously walked over and placed a hand on Joel's shoulder. "How about you come inside?" he suggested to Grian. "It's freezing out here. I can make you some hot cocoa."

Grian looked up at Etho. "Joel has to fix Grumbot," he said.

"Etho's right, buddy," Joel said softly, rubbing Grian's back. "Let's go inside, Etho can make you some hot chocolate, and we'll, uh..." He glanced back at the box then gave Grian a nervous smile. "We'll see what we can do about Gumbo."